Huaihua City, situated in the southwest of Hunan Province.It is a new city, built in the 1970s along with the construction of the Hunan-Guizhou and the Jiaozuo-Liuzhou railways.
Huaihua is the major transport hub in southwestern Hunan, with three railways running through the city area. It turned the city into a major economic radiation center linked to the peripheral areas of the neighboring provinces, Chongqing Municipality and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In 2002, the Chinese State Planning and Development Commission and the Japanese International Cooperation Association (JICA) chose Huaihua as a case study for development strategy of medium-sized cities in the western regions of China.
The city has a good ecological environment and a majestic landscape with many sites of historical interest. The newly discovered ancient trading town at Hongjiang is well preserved. Its marketplace, business names and offices are still clearly distinguishable, and it is of high archaeological value for the study of the history of economic and social development in western Hunan.